Which goes first in

{font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
background-color: #AAEEAA;}
#highlight
.highlight
P#highlight
P.highlight

1 answer

In CSS, the order of specificity for selectors determines which styles are applied when there are conflicting rules. Here’s a quick breakdown:

  1. ID selectors (e.g., #highlight) have higher specificity than class selectors or tag selectors.
  2. Class selectors (e.g., .highlight) have higher specificity than tag (element) selectors but lower than ID selectors.
  3. Tag (element) selectors (e.g., P) have the lowest specificity.

Now, let's analyze the selectors you provided:

  1. #highlight - This selects an element with the ID of highlight (high specificity).
  2. .highlight - This selects elements with the class of highlight (medium specificity).
  3. P#highlight - This selects a <P> element with the ID of highlight (high specificity, but still lower than just #highlight by itself).
  4. P.highlight - This selects a <P> element with the class of highlight (medium specificity).
  5. P - This selects all <P> elements (low specificity).

Based on specificity, the order from highest to lowest is:

  1. #highlight
  2. P#highlight
  3. .highlight
  4. P.highlight
  5. P

Therefore, if there are conflicting styles applied, the styles for #highlight would take precedence over the others, followed by P#highlight, and so on.